Vale of Belvoir; incident log
The Vale of Belvoir once echoed to
the sound of World War II bombers
and troop carriers.
Belvoir Castle itself is a prominent
landmark in the Vale of Belvoir and
overlooks 16,000 acres of woodland
and farmland. In the past the estate
has hosted the International de
Havilland Moth Club Rally and
its peaceful pastures still harbour
wreckage from crashed aircraft.
Aircrew nationalities that lost their
lives illustrate the international nature
of the flight training activities that were
taking place across the district. Two
incidents typify the losses:
Breeder Hills Stirling
A Stirling bomber like the one
that was lost at Breeder Hills.
Stirling aircrew killed:
RAAF, F/O Gordon Roch
Campbell (Instructor)
RAFVR, F/S Derrick John
Standring (Pilot)
RAFVR, Sgt William Ley
Howarth (Flight Engineer)
RAFVR, Sgt Leslie George Diggins
(Flight Engineer)
RAFVR, Sgt Eric William Heaton
RAFVR, Sgt Alma Louis Terry
RAFVR, Sgt - Anthony Winn
(Wireless Operator)
RAFVR, Sgt Bernard Stowe (Air Gunner)
RCAF, Sgt Kevin Cyril Glinz (Instructor)
14
4 miles west of Grantham
close to the Sedgebrook to
Woolsthorpe by Belvoir road.
A Short Stirling Mk III,
EF186 (GP-V), from 1661
Heavy Conversion Unit (HCU),
based at RAF Winthorpe,
crashed whilst out of control at
Breeder Hills near Grantham
on December 4th 1944. The
aircraft had taken off at 2030
hours to undertake the adverse
weather part of their HCU
Course. The crash happened
at 2055 hours, shortly after
the aircraft entered cumulus
nimbus cloud while practicing
recovery from unusual flight
attitudes. The Stirling had a
crew of nine and is thought
to have met icing problems.
The crew are commemorated
with a memorial at Newark Air
Museum.